[ISN] Insiders Pose New Threats In Down Economy

http://www.darkreading.com/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212201861

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading
Dec 04, 2008

Rene Rebollo was strapped for cash. One day, while working in his office 
at the Pasadena branch of Countrywide Home Loan, he noticed one computer 
in the building whose USB port hadn't been disabled by the company's IT 
department. Then, according to FBI affidavits, Rebollo got an idea.

Every Sunday night for approximately two years, Rebollo went over to 
that workstation and downloaded confidential data on as many as 20,000 
Countrywide customers to a small USB drive that he could carry out of 
the office in his pocket. He then sold the valuable data for as little 
as $500 to an accomplice, who fenced it. Over the two-year period, 
Rebollo may have sold as many as 2 million records, according to some 
estimates.

Rebollo's case, which caused a nationwide stir and a huge black eye to 
Countrywide, was highly publicized but hardly unique, experts say. In 
fact, as the global economy worsens and employees become more fearful of 
layoffs and financial distress, there already is an increasing incidence 
of insider sabotage, espionage, and theft.

In a report scheduled for release later today, IBM's ISS X-Force 
research team will reveal that it has detected a 30 percent increase in 
network and Web-based security events in the past 120 days, with the 
total number rising from 1.8 billion per day to more than 2.5 billion 
worldwide. The researchers attribute a significant portion of the uptick 
to insider activity motivated by economic fear.

[...]


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